Inspector Bukow (Charly Hübner) hears about a break-in at the Rostock entrepreneur Michael Norden (Tilman Strauss) over the police radio. Since he is nearby, he quickly stops by. In front of the house, a badly wounded man falls into his arms and dies. The homeowner flees. Together with his colleague Katrin König (Anneke Kim Sarnau), Bukow tries to find out what led the victim to the house – and why it had to die.
“Söhne Rostocks”, as this “police call” is called, is actually a business thriller: In the foreground is a successful owner of several temporary employment agencies who has gambled away ominous futures deals and with whom his former business partner still has an unpaid bill. The viewer learns all this from conversations without really getting an insight. As if the case wasn’t complicated enough, the murder suspect’s illegitimate son gets involved and causes complications.
The subplot is much more interesting than the actual case: Katrin König receives letters from a prisoner who accuses her of putting him behind bars with falsified evidence. This thread goes back to the episode “Für Janina” that was broadcast in November 2018 (here you can read our review again).
At that time, investigators had to let a convicted murderer and rapist go free – because he had already been charged and acquitted of the crime. According to German law, one cannot be charged twice in the same matter. In order to establish justice, König had manipulated evidence and simply framed the perpetrator for another murder, for which he was convicted. Now he reports from prison – the story will probably accompany the commissioner in the coming episodes.
It has long been clear to the viewer: Alexander Bukow and Katrin König are attracted to each other. The two just don’t want to admit that to each other. And so they creep around each other like two cats in heat. “Do you find me manic aggressive?” he asks coquettishly. “Sometimes,” she replies. At night, Bukow leaves a message for his colleague on the mailbox. And when König asks him about his new shoes, he admits: “I bought them because of you. I only have you.” For the time being, however, they are both only united in their drunkenness.
The weaknesses predominate: You can safely do without this “police call 110”.
The “Polizeiruf 110: Sons of Rostock” was first broadcast on January 19, 2020. ARD repeats the case on Friday, May 5, at 10:20 p.m.
